Dialing
Author: ryosukekoibito
Pairing: Chinen-centric
Rating: PG
Warnings: Some minor cursing?
Genre: Slice of life
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from J&A.
Summary: Chinen didn't know why he'd decided to clean up his phone contact list at nearly three in the morning.
A/N: Hi! I hope you guys haven't forgotten about me. I've been gone for a few months. I've been working on my next Heisei Kumi multichap, as well as dealing with a lot of real life upheaval. I'm not actually done with it yet, but it's coming along, and as soon as it's done I'll be posting regularly again! In the mean time I hope you enjoy this little Chinen centric drabble!
Oops. Curses fell from his lips, and Chinen nearly dropped his phone in his haste to hang up, the screen displaying the dialing screen, bright in the darkness of his empty apartment as his fingers fumbled to tap the red button. He was so stupid. Now was not the time to be going through his contacts. Not at nearly three in the morning, when he was tired and liable to make stupid mistakes, mistakes like the one that had just happened. Shit. His heart was racing in his chest, and suddenly he was wide awake, sitting up in bed, his eyes staring at his screen in a rather horrified mix of anxiety and anticipation long after he’d hung up, waiting for something to happen. But after two solid minutes of nothing he started to calm down.
It had been years since he’d called that number. He had probably gotten a new one. There was no way he’d kept it after all of this time. Besides, even if he had, he had no reason to answer. Chances were he’d deleted Chinen’s number a long time ago. Like Chinen had been considering doing just a few minutes prior, when his fingers had slipped and he’d hit call by mistake. Like Chinen should have done, honestly. Chinen took a deep breath, staring at the contact name. He really didn’t have any reason to keep the data in his phone any longer, but something compelled him to. He liked having it, liked pretending like there was something left, some sort of connection, no matter how small.
He found his fingers hovering over his screen again, hesitating. He didn’t know what to do, didn’t know what he wanted. Logically, he should get rid of it, but that thought made something inside of him quite sad, and he frowned, furrowing his brows, his eyes reading the name over and over as he sat there, trying to decide. He wasn’t used to indecision, wasn’t used to not knowing what he wanted, and he didn’t like the feeling of hesitation. He let out a sharp exhale, deciding that-fuck it-the faster he deleted the information, the faster he could forget this whole stupid late night foray into cleaning up his contact list.
He tapped on the contact name, barely looking at the info listed on his screen, trying to move through the steps quickly, before he could change his mind as he hit the edit button. He was in the process of finding the option to delete contact when his screen blurred, two big buttons appearing at the bottom of it: one green and one red, Chinen’s breath catching in his throat when he caught sight of the name of the incoming caller. It was him. He was calling back. Shit. Chinen froze, his chest tight, whole body numb as he stared, mind racing, because he was so thoroughly unprepared for this. It was three in the morning; he’d be perfectly justified in not picking up, right? He watched his phone buzz in his hand, counting the number of times it did, trying to decide what to do, before at the last second he pressed the button and held the little device up to his ear. A rush of anxiety ran over him, as he said
“Hello?”
“Hey Chinen.” The voice hit him like a bag of bricks. It was different than he remembered, deeper, the tone new, and yet the inflection was exactly the same. The warmth and rawness somehow the same as it had always been, and Chinen was shocked all over again, because it was really him. It took Chinen a moment to catch his breath, and he swallowed the lump in his throat, adopting a new tremble in his fingers as he held the phone to his ear. The pause was long, a little longer than he intended it to be, before he responded, the name falling from his lips feeling like a childhood fairytale coming true, like something he’d done in a dream.
“Ryu. Hi.”